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Primary Ahead in Attorney General Race

Setting the stage for a bruising intramural battle, all three Democratic candidates for attorney general picked up enough support today at the state party convention to get their names on the primary ballot in September.

Eliot J. Spitzer, a former state prosecutor, emerged as the front-runner, collecting 36 percent of the delegate votes. He was slightly ahead of G. Oliver Koppell, a former New York State Attorney General, who received 33 percent, and State Senator Catherine M. Abate, who picked up 30 percent.

The results, though not entirely unexpected, undermined efforts by party leaders to accomplish one of their main goals at the convention: narrowing the crowded field of Democrats jockeying to challenge the Republican incumbent, Attorney General Dennis C. Vacco.

A fourth candidate, Evan A. Davis, who was once counsel to Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, withdrew from the balloting early in the day. Mr. Davis had little hope of winning the minimum 25 percent delegate support needed to get on the ballot. Nevertheless, he vowed to stay in the race, saying he intended to begin the task of collecting the 15,000 signatures from registered Democratic voters to assure himself a place on the ballot on Sept. 15.

''I'm sure that this is just the kind of situation Dennis Vacco wants,'' said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. ''Having a consensus candidate would have given Democrats the ability to direct their resources against the incumbents. The danger of not having a consensus candidate is that Democrats will spend a lot of money and time focusing on each other.''

The results came on the first day of the state Democratic convention. The two-day event has drawn 353 delegates, who are trying to pick a slate of candidates they believe would make the best case against Republican incumbents like Gov. George E. Pataki and Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato.

The race for the attorney general's office is expected to be one of the most hotly contested this year, because Mr. Vacco is widely considered to be among the most vulnerable Republican officeholders in the state. Mr. Vacco has been accused of politicizing his office by dismissing seasoned lawyers after he won election in 1994 and replacing them with younger, inexperienced lawyers with extensive ties to Republican Party leaders across the state.

But for all the talk of party unity, bitterness erupted among the candidates. Mr. Davis held a morning news conference and accused Mr. Spitzer of using his family's considerable wealth to buy the party's nomination.

Mr. Davis said that Mr. Spitzer and his father, a real estate developer, have pledged to pump money into the campaign coffers of Democratic leaders in exchange for their endorsement in the primary.

In one instance, Mr. Davis said, Mr. Spitzer offered to give Democratic officials in Erie County $100,000 to pay for a get-out-the-vote campaign in western New York this fall. Mr. Davis, who withdrew from today's balloting in protest, called on party leaders to disqualify Mr. Spitzer.

Mr. Spitzer dismissed the charges as outrageous, contending that spending money to finance a get-out-the-vote effort was perfectly appropriate and even necessary if Democrats intend to mount a serious challenge against Republicans.

''That's what campaigning is all about,'' he said. ''That is basic politics.''

Of all the candidates, Mr. Spitzer is the only one with no political experience. But he has the most money. He has raised nearly $1.3 million as of January, including $1 million of his own money, according to the State Board of Elections.